As we looked at interior design trends emerging from Salone del Mobile 2024, it was clear a few things had been on designers' minds, and it seemingly had largely to to with comfort and conviviality. As we walked the halls of Salone del Mobile and explored Milan's key Fuorisalone locations, furniture showrooms and more, we kept coming across a few recurring themes that will help shape how we imagine our homes in the year ahead.
Here are a few interior design trends for 2024 and beyond, from modern-day conversation pits to informal low dining, from ingenious origami-like construction to upholstered seating that eschews perfection for utter comfort.
4 INTERIOR DESIGN TRENDS FROM SALONE DEL MOBILE 2024
Contemporary conversation pits
A popular element in the 1950s to 1970s, the conversation pit usually required a serious interior design commitment, as a recessed area dedicated to conviviality. For 2024, it returns as a much more informal feature, both as a modular seating composition and as semi-circular seating. An example to be experienced during Milan Design Week was Sabine Marcelis and Poul Cournet's Haus Dari seating system, inspired by North African seating and created for Design Space AlUla. Throughout the week, visitors would use the space as a resting spot, sitting to converse, work or simply take a moment away from the bustling Brera streets.
More examples included Yves Behar's Peaks seating system for Moooi: 'conceived during [the pandemic], I was dreaming of human connection, play and silliness during the long months of isolation, I wondered about a sofa that would create intimacy and closeness,' says Behar. 'Peaks was born from the longing to come together, and today’s solution for the type of human cohesion and warmth we all need.'
Another example was Time & Style's Stone Garden, a modular collection of tatami mat platforms hovering on bases of interlocked Akita cedar timber – inspired by the eaves of Zen Buddhist temples and the rock gardens that lie beneath them. 'It’s a new sofa concept without a backrest and it’s a very flexible system. You can sleep on this. You can meditate. You can read a book,' Ryutaro Yoshida, founder of Time & Style, tells Wallpaper*. 'In Japan, as most new apartments don’t have tatami but many people still love living with tatami. In Western homes, it can create a small authentic Japanese space.'
The more classic end of the spectrum included Molteni & C's Augusto by Vincent Van Duysen, revisited this year from a relatively compact sofa to a multifunctional system that included this semi-circular version. 'Van Duysen aims to further capture the enduring essence of Augusto through modularity, introducing innovative curvilinear pieces that foster connection,' reads a note from the company, which this year celebrates its 90th anniversary.
Swiss company DeSede, meanwhile, unveiled its new DS-888 Collina, a 'modular seating landscape' by Atelier Oi, imagined for an 'elegant and dynamic lifestyle,' and available in a multitude of compositions (and colours).
Spanish company Kettal took the concept to the outdoors with their new Insula system by Patricia Urquiola. Urquiola's design also offers a contemporary take on the traditional seating used in traditional Arab Majlis, with an idea of gathering and entertaining brought to an open space.
Low dining
Many designers brought more informality to the dinner table with low seating systems for gathering casually around a meal or drink. Patricia Urquiola revisited her Dudet chair into a low seat and sofa option, inspired by easy dining and perfect for convivial moments.
Another example was Monica Armani's extension of her Allure O' collection for B&B Italia, with a new table offered in a variety of versions, including a low bistro option that matches the compact armchairs in this lower version.
Another dining armchair option was offered by Poliform, who collaborated with Stefano Belingardi Clusoni on the Loai, 'an armchair made for low dining, highlighting the contrast between its compact size and extra-large seat, firm structure and soft cushioning.'
Finally, another adaptation of a contemporary icon is Mateo, Vincent Van Duysen's table for Molteni & C (originally shown in 2023, with a backdrop of Roberto Ruspoli's murals). 'The Mateo table caters to different family dynamics and social gatherings, serving as a focal point for creating enduring traditions,' reads a note from the designer, who with his adaptable concept wanted to reinvent the notion of dining in a contemporary home.
Cushiony upholstery
At Salone del Mobile this year there was a diffused sense of comfort, with upholstered pieced that veered away from the usual controlled lines and into more puffy, squishy territories. An example was Willo Perron's ‘Pillo’ sofa for Knoll - a company best known for reissuing the more rigid Bauhaus shapes of Marcel Breuer and Mies Van Der Rohe, as well as Florence Knoll and Harry Bertoia.
The ‘Pillo’ sofa reflects Perron’s idea for the future home: his sofa design, he points out, is meant to be ‘enjoyed in daily life’. As the name suggests, the sofa’s forms are based on a composition of pillows that is completely modular and can adapt to design and lifestyle changes within the home.
Another example of this approach came from Poltrona Frau's collaboration with Faye Toogood: dubbed 'Squash', the collection includes an armchair with curvaceous forms and an enveloping seat. ‘They allowed me to be expressive, and to let myself loose in the factory,’ she told Wallpaper*. ‘I wanted to create something that was really comfortable, really soft. I insisted that I didn’t want the leather to be stretched and perfect, I want to give the feeling that you can sink into it, to look like it’s already been sat on, like it's already had a life. To me this is the beauty of this material.’
Toogood also experimented with the cushion format through her collaboration with Tacchini, shown as part of her Rude Arts Club in Milan. Essentially a stack of cushions, the sofa and lounge chair embody the informal approach to seating that was very much the norm this year. 'The shape of the chair came from pushing my fingers into the clay maquette, squashing the three layers together,' reveals Toogood. 'I don’t connect with design done at a distance. These biomorphic shapes haven’t been created on a computer, they are found by hand.'
Similarly, Studiopepe worked with Visionnaire on the Fedro Chaise Longue, imagined as an extension of the design studio's fringed mirrors and inspired by the enveloping forms of ancient triclinia.
More informal upholstery was found at Minotti, whose Emmi armchair by Hannes Peer echoes 'the generous and comfortable armchairs of the 1970s.' The cushioned seat and backrest seem to be informally placed on the frame, but in reality they are the result of Minotti's rigorous manufacturing abilities.
Folded arrangements
Origami-like shapes kept popping up across Salone del Mobile this year, with experimental approaches to furniture construction seen from established brands and more emerging creatives. The Narinari chair by Tiziano Guardini and Luigi Ciuffreda for B&B Italia is a folded marvel whose forms are inspired by Sea Eagles. 'This magnificent specimen with its colourful back and white front surface creates harmonies of contrasts, concave and convex surfaces coexisting in its sinuous flow,' say the designers. 'Narinari becomes the symbol of a connection that respects individual spaces, where two entities only brush against each other along the perimeter, each keeping its own identity and autonomy intact.'
Meanwile, Nao Tamura's Origata bench for Porro is directly inspired by the process of making kimonos: to create the traditional Japanese garment, a rectangular piece of fabric is cut in straight lines and then sewn together with little to no waste – a method replicated in the making of this bench, with a sheet of aluminium carefully cut and assembled to waste as little metal as possible.
At an exhibition curated by Federica Sala challenging designers to come up with objects that have a dual function, Martinelli Venezia created 'Match', a ping pong and dining table whose raised top felt like an effortless exercise in adding function to a surface.
Designed for Tecta, Pascal Hien's Prism stool is an example of modular folded forms: a stackable design made of bent aluminium, its idea comes from the designer's experience in an office environment. 'That cosmos in which flexible spaces are needed, where workshops and meetings take place, sometimes with five, but also with 50 people,' he explains. 'This stool offers a quick seating option, providing a space underneath to house a bag, jacket or any personal belongings. It stacks and can retract into a corner when not needed anymore.'
